Fellow Lian-Li owners...

[TrevorRC]

I have a PC-60B--great case, looks wonderful.

One complaint?

It scratches like a...nevermind. You get the point.

Silver scuff marks all over. Some 'buff' off [rub your finger on them for a bit] but most don't.

So, how do you deal with it?

Both black, and silver owners. Silver owners, are yours noticable at all?

Black owners, any suggestions?

Any pastes?

Anything?

Thanks.
--Trevor

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

We have tread this trail before Trevor
Black Shapies don't seem to offer much for hiding deep scratches.

Prior to building I washed both my silver midis very well with hot soapy water. The wash water turned gray from manufacturing dust. They were rinsed well then dryed w/compressed air, sun dried for an hour or two. Permitted to cool, then given three coats of hard automotive wax, buffing between coats. They still look as new. Most all modding was done from the inside out. This prevented slippage marring from effecting the exterior. The non-anodized interior can be buffed with fine Scotch-Bright to hide modding marks.

I've never used it but wax is made for use on black automotive finishes. Regular wax can yellow and/or cause cloudyness on black surfaces.

Only the newer Lian Li cases are hard anodized. The cases you & I have are decorative anodized. http://www.anodizing.org/what_is_anodizing.html
If you view a microscopic image of the anodized surface you will see it looks like a coral reef. Lite scraches just abrate the surface and wipe away.

...Galvanized

 

[TrevorRC]

Never went quite this far down the path, or the question wouldn'tve been asked.

You never cease to amaze me at the depth of your answers.

Well now, anyone who searches for this has their problems solved.

Any suggestions on fixing relatively deep scratches from modding that are already there?

Thank you.

Edit:
Decorative anodization is 5um thick vs. 15ish for 'hard' anodization, correct?

Or is it a completely different process?

Digging around right now... lots of homework to be working on, too; so my answer might not come for a while.
-T

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Your link to that forum is weak on content. Anodizing is not about plating. It's about removing pure aluminum and leaving/growing aluminum oxide on the surface. It's just the silicate in the aluminum. Hard anodizing will cause clearances to tighten a bit. So high-end aluminum fastners and fittings are given a tad of extra clearance during production to compensate for the tightening of dimention the hard process causes. Aluminum bearings in small gasoline engines are hard anodized. Think about that next time you mow the lawn.

Note: Traces of other metals alloyed with the aluminum will impact the anodizing process.

For further information & edification http://electrochem.cwru.edu/ed/encycl/art-a02-anodizing.htm

Mark this site if your a willing student as it offers a plethora of information. The section on electrolytic capacitors is worth the read as well as the topic at hand.


...Galvanized

 

[TrevorRC]

Above link removed; your link bookmarked.

Started reading. Quite interesting.

Thanks for the link.
--Trevor

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

It was a silly dream but it was shared with an uber-modder Elite on this board.
I would disassemble one of my cases. Have a shop strip the anodized surface.
Block sand the panels dead flat, then buff to mirror shine, then have the panels splash
anodized in very deep Navy blue, then stripe it in dark yellow. Kinda like one of the
Navy Air Team, The Flying Angels. Way too much work.

Depending on alloy, some aluminum will produce a very dark green=nearly black when
hard anodized. There would be no certainty of the end color of a Lian Li case.

Google, splash anodizing and be ready for pics of some Full-Zoot paintball guns.


...Galvanized